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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Last Best Egg Cream in New Jersey

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...He was an old man. He survived two wars, one left him with a gimpy leg, the other with a numeric tattoo. He rarely spoke of either. He came, without family, to the United States in the late 40's. He opened a small shop, called Jack's, where he sold convenience items and made breakfast and lunch for the neighborhood. The store was positioned on a street that served as an artificial barrier between neighbors in Montclair. While it was one of the first integrated communities in the country, there were areas of the town that seemed to be separated by color. In truth, the barriers were economic, rather than racial. Flanked by palaces on his right and bungalows and apartments on his left, Jack served coffee to all and was incredibly good with the neighborhood children. No child within his reach went to school hungry and it was not unusual to see a child spinning on a stool next to a Senator or ball player who was trying to read the morning paper. The shop was also a mecca for editors and writers who commuted to their jobs at The New York Times. There were so many of them that locals, had if fact, named a stretch of the town the Times Ghetto. Jack rarely smiled but there came a Monday when he beamed for most of the day. The Sunday New York Times Magazine had, in an article, named his egg cream the best in New Jersey. I learned today that Jack had passed. I will, of course, say my prayers for the dead, but he was not a religious man and would smile at my foolishness. I wanted to mark his passing in a way that would please him. I remembered the article and his smile that day. Now, my egg cream will never be a match for his, but wherever he is, he'll know I'm thinking of him. L'chaim, Jack. Shalom.

Directions:
1) Pour 1 inch of U-Bet syrup into a soda or cola glass.
2) Gently pour 1-1/2 inches of milk on top of syrup.
3) Fill glass with seltzer or club soda and leave some room at top so it doesn't overflow.
4) Stir vigorously to get most of the chocolate from the bottom and sides of glass. Egg cream should have 1 to 2 inches of foam at top. Serve immediately.

What a nice tribute Mary! I loved the story. And I have heard of this egg cream thing - can you believe I have never had one? Well us southerners, we'd of probably tried to put an egg in ours ya know! ;)

I just got back from vacation and was so pleased to find such kind words from you on my blog. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to stop by, and I'm so grateful that it lead me to your blog. Your blog is beautiful, and I cannot wait to read more. Have a wonderful day.

As always, Mary, you tell a wonderful story about people who have affected your life. Being from the Midwest, I have never had an egg cream, but the recipe sounds a lot like what we used to call a chocolate soda.

Love the story Mary. As a NYer for most of my adult life and a recent NJ resident (albeit right across the river from NYC) I have never had an egg cream!!! Your tribute was superb and somewhere JAck is smiling and perhaps at last I will try one of those darn things!!

Growing up in Jamaica Queens, a survivor of the Holocaust served me scrumptious egg creams for ten years. He told me he never ever slept because life was too short. hat memories were conjured here. Egg creams - the best concoction for summer.

Jack seemed like a great person! I had no idea of what egg cream was...in a way I was expecting eggs not chocolate. This one, like pink coloured peppermint are real novelties for me! I am starting to think what a hell did I eat when I was in the States not to remembers things like these! :-)

Great tribute, Mary. it brings me back to my youth in New York. We had a Jack too who inherited the business (a classic New York candy store) from his dad.Kadinski's was the name and they had a candy case and fountain. He would mix egg creams, lime rickeys,even cokes along with the more expensive malteds and ice cream sodas and remind us that he wasn't running a library. "If you want that comic book, but it!"

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